Medical Assistance to Self-settled Refugees (Tropical Institute Antwerp, 1998): 2. The health system in Guinea, 1988-96: The Guinean health care system and PARLS

Medical Assistance to Self-settled Refugees (Tropical Institute Antwerp, 1998)

2. The health system in Guinea, 1988-96

		(introduction...)
		The Bamako Initiative at the health centres
		Hospitals: rationalisation, cost recovery... but low utilisation
		The administrative structure of the health system
		Human resources in the health sector
		Cost and funding of the health system
		The Guinean health care system and PARLS

The Guinean health care system and PARLS

In early 1990, when the first refugees began to arrive in the Forest Region, the Guinean health system was in its early stages of a nation-wide transition and expansion. PEV/SSP/ME had trained and equipped the DMOs, and prepared many health staff to work in health centres, but geographical coverage with health centres was still poor. In each prefecture, a foreign field partner was established and assisting MOH. Decentralised drug supply was functioning and cost-recovery systems were elaborated.

This state of affairs allowed for the Programme d'Assistance aux RgiLibens et Sierra-Lais (PARLS) to be developed as an extension of, and an annex to, the national Guinean health system. PARLS initially largely 'piggybacked' on the logistics, the managerial capacities and the manpower of the Guinean health care system. But PARLS also brought considerable resources that helped to consolidate and rapidly expand the network of health facilities in the Forest Region (Chapter 6).